But after earning himself the nickname ‘Miracle Boy’ he survived the odds and is back home to tell his tale.

For almost five months he stared death in face but was determined to fight back.

And, after being raced into Cuba’s Lenin Hospital while on holiday after suffering pancreatitis, Keith lay for weeks with a 30cm gaping hole in his abdomen as medics left the wound open so they could work on his internal organs.

He was kept alive via a ventilator and developed a string of complications.

And after developing gastric bleeding, a collapsed lung, an abscess on his lower abdomen, acute respiratory distress syndrome - a life-threatening condition where the lungs can’t provide enough oxygen for the rest of the body, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a tracheostomy and a host of serious infections, Keith amazed medics and pulled through.

And, after losing three stone and gaining a patchwork of scars on his tummy along with a cluster of painful bedsores, the 41-year-old said: “I was sedated from January when I went in to the end of March and I am blessed that I can’t remember anything during that time. I escaped death so many times and I feel very, very lucky and fortunate.”

Keith, of Woodstone Village, Houghton-le-Spring, finally left hospital in May and moved to a hotel so he could get well enough to fly before arriving back on Geordie soil last week.

He is now on painkillers and needs more tests at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. It will take him at least to the end of the year to make a recovery and is building his strength on a high calorie, low fat diet.

“Being in hospital for so long I felt so low that I wanted to die, but something happened and I started listening to the positive comments. There were so many complications that I was taking three steps forward and four steps back. It was testing me. I got sick of feeling depressed, low and horrible. I had to pull myself out of it and I started to think that I wanted to get through it.”

Keith’s wife Sharon spent months by his bedside and prayed for him to survive. She suffers from ME and was determined to cope with the nightmare that lay in front of her.

“He’s my Miracle Man, he literally is. They saved his life four or five times,” said Sharon, 42. “The doctors kept saying ‘Sharon, do you realise how critical he is?’ And I kept saying I do but I’m going home with Keith.

“The doctors have saved Keith’s life, they worked religiously and saved him. It is such an intense and complicated illness that one in 1,000 survive and that’s scary.

“Every day I would talk to him and tell him what was happening. He was so heavily sedated that I would sit next to him and hold his hand and say how much I loved him. I kept taking pictures of his open stomach to show him what he had been through. I tried to keep the days as real as possible.”

Keith’s mum Pam Cummings thought history was repeating itself when she got the phone call from Sharon to say Keith was on a life support machine and his future hung in the balance.

Her other son Christopher, 24, died after falling from a balcony on the Greek island of Rhodes in 2000 and his body was flown home without a kidney. Ever since Pam and husband George Cummings have been locked in a battle over the missing organ with the Greek authorities.

Keith, a home improvement salesman, added: “I lost my brother 16 years ago and it must have been so difficult for my mam to see me in a hospital abroad. It must be so difficult for a mother to lose a son and then think it could happen to a second son - that must have been awful.

“I saw the relief in her eyes when she met us at the airport. She thought I was another Chris and wasn’t coming home. No mother should ever have to bury her child.”

Keith Rochester, 41, of Houghton-leSspring, back home after fighting for his life in Cuba for four months

Keith added: “I lost my grandad Thomas when I was in hospital. He died aged 83 on April 9 and of course I missed the funeral. He is buried near to Christopher in Ropery Lane Cemetery. My grandma, stepdad’s mother and friends are also there.

“Sharon and I have arranged for a mini service around the his grave so we can say goodbye.”

Sharon got through her ordeal after being befriended by a Cuban family and daily trips to pray at the local church.

And the couple both now know Keith’s climb towards a full recovery is mountainous.

Keith, who could also develop diabetes, added: “I know how lucky I have been. People keep looking me in the eyes and say ‘you’re so lucky’.

“I was sedated for the first three months and can’t remember how horrific it was. But I couldn’t have got through it without Sharon.

“It hasn’t put me off going on holiday in the future and in a couple of years time we are planning to go back to Cuba to meet our Cuban friends again.

“It is just a relief to be back home.”

While Keith was in hospital friend Trudy Thompson set up a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for the family.

The insurance company is paying for the hospital and hotel bill but other bills, such as £4,000 phone bill, stacked up and family members have had to pay for their flights out there. So far, more than £3,300 has been raised.

Christopher Rochester with brother Keith

After Christopher’s death, Kevan Jones MP has been fighting his case to help his family get closure.

When his body was returned in 2000, it was discovered his kidney was missing, but when Pam and George requested their son’s organ be returned it was discovered its DNA did not match.

A Greek doctor was convicted in 2008 of neglecting Christopher during his treatment in hospital, but the dispute over the organ continued.

An inquiry into the matter was to be carried out by Belgian authorities but the Greek authorities demanded more DNA samples from Christopher’s body.

Professor John Burns, a leading UK geneticist, was among the experts who argued against Christopher’s body being exhumed, but the couple reluctantly agreed and in 2011, Christopher’s body was exhumed at Ropery Lane Cemetery by Durham Police with Greek officials present.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs then said the DNA matched samples from Christopher’s body, but had refused to hand over the report but Kevan Jones stepped in and they eventually handed it across.

Mr Jones is still fighting the Greek authorities to find a conclusion.